Impact of Task Difficulty on the Acquisition of Aircrew Coordination Skills

Abstract

The skills approach to aircrew coordination focuses on the training of specific coordination behavior. While this approach has shown promise, careful consideration must be given to the manner in which these skills are trained. A growing body of literature suggests that training workload impacts the acquisition of skills. The present study examined the effectiveness of two training paradigms on the development of aircrew coordination. One regimen of training was characterized by consistent levels of task difficulty over a series of training sessions. The other regimen involved incrementally increasing task difficulty over training sessions. Twenty IFR rated pilots comprised 10 two-person crews. One-half of the crews (control group) completed nine training flights that were of consistent task difficulty. The remaining half completed nine training flights that increased incrementally in task difficulty: three low, three moderate, and three high task difficulty flights. Following the nine training flights, all crew completed five novel aerial reconnaissance flights during which they were instructed to map buildings within a specified area. Measures of subjective workload, flight performance, and secondary task performance were taken for all flights. An additional measure of building identification was also taken for the five reconnaissance-type flights. Measures of subjective workload validated the increasing workload associated with the experimental training regimen. Analysis of the workload data taken during novel task flights failed to reveal differences between training groups. Moreover, there were no significant differences in flight performance between groups. Measures of building identification, a task heavily dependent on crew coordination, revealed significant differences between groups. Experimental crews identified significantly more buildings than their control counterparts for two of the five flights. Implications for aircrew coordination training are discussed.